Quality of Fresh and Fresh-cut Produce Impacted by Nonthermal Physical Technologies Intended to Enhance Microbial Safety

Authors: Fan, Xuetong; WANG, WENLI - Zhejiang University

Submitted to: Annual Review of Food Science & Technology
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/27/2020
Publication Date: 9/17/2020
Citation: Fan, X., Wang, W. 2020. Quality of Fresh and Fresh-cut Produce Impacted by Nonthermal Physical Technologies Intended to Enhance Microbial Safety. Annual Review of Food Science & Technology. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2020.1816892.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2020.1816892

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Nonthermal physical intervention technologies are able to reduce populations of foodborne pathogens on/in fresh produce. As highly perishable and living organisms, fresh produce is inherently sensitive to any physical or chemical treatment in terms of quality damage. The impact of nonthermal physical technologies on fresh produce quality is related to pathogen inactivation mechanisms of each individual technology, and the severity of damage caused by the technologies depends on treatment intensity/time and other processing conditions. Common symptoms of quality deterioration due to nonthermal processing include tissue softening, browning and loss of nutrients. In general, there is a lack of systematic evaluations, particularly sensory evaluation using taste panels, of product quality after treatments. For emerging technologies such as cold plasma, more studies are needed to assess quality changes during post-treatment storage at relevant temperatures. Quality of fresh produce must be carefully investigated to facilitate the commercialization of the technologies.